Reporters in Egypt Under Broad Assault

Reporters in Egypt Under Broad Assault

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and J. DAVID GOODMAN

Published: February 3, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/world/middleeast/04journalists.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimesglobal

CAIRO — Many journalists covering the protests in Egypt were detained and attacked on Thursday, and human rights groups were also a target, in what appeared to be an escalating effort to block reports on the violence.
The Egyptian security forces were rounding up workers for human rights groups as well as foreign journalists, witnesses in Cairo said. Security police raided the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, where many nongovernmental organizations operate. They ordered people there to lie on the floor and disabled their mobile phones. Two people were being interrogated. The state news agency Thursday has asked foreign press to evacuate all the hotels near Tahrir Square.